


How Are You Supposed to be Sexy in an Itchy Sweater?

by Beckyhelene



Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Early Valerina relationship, F/F, First Date, First Kiss, Gavina brotp, Mistletoe, Not Beta Read, Octopunk Advent, Office Party, Pre DBH, Pre DE, Pre-Canon, Valerina fluff, gingerbread, ugly sweater
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:33:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27806134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beckyhelene/pseuds/Beckyhelene
Summary: After months of postponed dates and flirting over texts, Tina and Valerie are finally having their first date....at the Detroit District Attorney’s Office Holiday Ugly Sweater Party. Fan-freaking-tastic.
Relationships: Tina Chen & Gavin Reed, Tina Chen (Detroit: Become Human)/Valerie Morales-Chen
Kudos: 3





	How Are You Supposed to be Sexy in an Itchy Sweater?

**Author's Note:**

> Done in response to Octopunk Advent prompts:  
> Day 1: Mistletoe  
> Day 4: Ugly Sweater  
> Day 5: Gingerbread  
> Day 8: Office Party

Officer Tina Chen balanced her cellphone on her lap as she scratched at her shoulder and picked at her pantyhose for what felt like the twentieth time in the last ten minutes. To say she was miserable would be a massive understatement.

‘You still hiding out?’ 

Tina’s phone screen lit up with a text message as the device vibrated on her lap. Tina sighed and picked up her phone, unlocking it to see the latest text from her friend, Detective Gavin Reed. 

‘What do you think?’ She replied. ‘Morales is probably thinking I’ve got some digestive issue or something _.’_ Tina rolled her eyes to herself as she sent off the second text message and took stock of her surroundings. She was hiding out in one of the cramped tiny stalls in the ladies’ room of the district attorney’s office, wallowing in self pity as she sat on the toilet seat. ‘IBS is sexy, right?’ Tina sardonically asked in a third text to her friend.

‘Oh yeah, hella sexy ;),’ Gavin replied. Tina couldn’t help smile as she could almost hear the snort and chuckle wrapped around Gavin’s comment.

‘Awesome,’ she sent back, before laying her phone back on her lap as another round of scratching came upon her.

She couldn’t help but wonder how the hell she had gotten herself into this mess. Hiding out in a bathroom stall. Ill fitting pantyhose. High heels that it was a miracle she hadn’t fallen over in yet. A little black dress that the jury was still out on whether it was really “her” or not. And last but certainly not least: this goddamn itchy hideous sweater.

 _Valerie **freaking** Morales_.

Oh right. That’s how Tina had gotten herself in this mess. The pathetic self pitying shitshow of awful. The price of wrapping herself up in making such a big deal out of tonight. Making a big deal to impress the pretty lawyer she’d been flirting with for months. The pretty lawyer who had the fantastic idea that an office holiday party was the perfect time to cash in all the rain checks for a date they’d been accumulating.

This **was** a big deal.

Or, at least it was a big deal to Tina. She was still unclear as to whether Valerie felt the same. Valerie had been far too casual in inviting Tina to the party. It was all very fuzzy. Fuzzier than the green monstrosity of a cardigan Valerie was wearing over her work clothes, if such a thing was possible.

’You’re spiraling, aren’t you?’ As if on cue, Gavin’s near psychic text message broke Tina out of her thoughts.

’This is bad, right?’ Tina texted back one handed as the itch brought on by her own godawful sweater migrated from her shoulder to her side.

’Hell if I know,’ Gavin responded, knowing full well what she meant. Tina had been running her conversation with Valerie through her mind and in overthinking rambling to Gavin for nearly a week. Unfortunately, Gavin wasn’t exactly overflowing with insight on what made good or bad signs in intended actual courtship. He’d joked he was much better at awful one night stands than dating.

_Fuck, T, why don’t you just invite her to your place and get it over with already?_

That had been the extent of Gavin’s advice on the matter. Back in August. After Valerie had needed to postpone their date for the fourth—or was it fifth?—time. Tina had shot down that idea. By that point there was just so much....build up? Expectation?....for finally pulling the trigger on this first date, doing it over bad late night takeout— _or anything else_ —in Tina’s crappy apartment didn’t feel right. (The fact that a work function felt right to Valerie wasn’t doing a great job in reassuring Tina that she and Valerie were on the same page on all of this, unfortunately). 

After Gavin’s advice had been brushed off, he figured it was best to just provide a listening ear and try to keep Tina from going too off the deep end. The fact that he’d been unable to convince her that the damn dress was maybe a bit too much for tonight, was proof of that failure.

On a short break from her scratching, Tina backed out of the text conversation with Gavin and opened up the one she’d been having with Valerie. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for in her scanning of eight months worth of texting back and forth. Perhaps it was some sort of sign or confirmation that tonight wasn’t a complete mistake.

It had started off as cordial, professional. Tina was meant to testify as the arresting officer for an assault case, and Valerie was the newest hire in the DA’s office cutting her teeth by assisting one of the higher ups. 

_‘Hello Officer Chen, will you be able to come by the DA’s office tomorrow afternoon? We just need to go over your testimony’._

A small collection of scheduling and confirming back and forth. Valerie then began being complimentary in her texts, boosting the confidence of the rookie officer with her first time testifying in a trial.

_’Don’t be nervous. Just breathe, Officer Chen. You’ve got this.’_

_’Nice job with cross. Are you sure you haven’t given no shits to hotshot defense assholes before? You’re a pro ;)’.  
_

Tina only momentarily wondered of the ethics or legality of the conversations that went on from there, but had a hard time sticking to professionalism as a smile broke out on her face anytime she saw Valerie’s name flash on her phone screen.

Tina had actually been disappointed when the trial ended up being relatively short after various witness statements had convinced the suspect to take a deal rather than continue the trial. She wasn’t sure if she was more disappointed over her first trial had fizzled out to a lackluster end, or over losing her excuse to continue texting with Valerie.

In the end, Valerie had no problem continuing their texting as the two kept on talking. Growing more familiar in their exchanges without the shackles of needing to maintain some semblance of professionalism during the trial.

 _’Were you flirting with me outside court today?_ ’ Tina had asked late one Friday night in July—aided by a great deal of liquid courage in the shape of whiskey—after Valerie had laid out some mildly suggestive joke and a wink when they had crossed paths at a vending machine in the courthouse. Gavin had been called in for some excessive force crap, and with the amount of sleep it was abundantly clear he **hadn’t** gotten the night before, Tina wasn’t about to let him drive himself.

_’Chen, I’ve been flirting with you for over two months. Glad you finally noticed’._

And thus began the dance that had taken them through the rest of the summer, all of fall, and what now had Tina feeling like an idiot hiding in a bathroom stall just as winter was beginning.

Ten dates.

Ten dates called off for one reason or another.

A case needing to be known end to end by Monday if Valerie had any hope of staying in her bosses’ good graces.

A fellow officer calling out and Tina needing to cover their patrol.

Valerie’s grandmother breaking her hip and the whole Morales family rushing across the country to be there for her recovery.

Miller calling Tina just as she and Lewis were driving back at the end of their shift, begging for their help in dragging Lt. Anderson out of Jimmy’s bar.

Just a few instances of an entire smorgasbord of work or personal related roadblocks that had kept the two women in a strictly texting flirtationship for months.

It all came to a head this past Monday. She’d been at the DA’s office signing over evidence for an upcoming trial when she ran into Valerie and a small group of interns and clerks decorating the front office with cheesy Christmas and Chanukah cut outs along the walls.

 _”Working hard, Morales?”_ Tina had teased as she stopped by before heading back to the precinct. Valerie had shot Tina a half smile that made Tina need to straighten her posture to overcompensate for the sudden swell of what could only be described as “heart-eyeing”.

 _”Oh yeah, I’m using the hell out of my law degree right now,”_ Valerie replied with a snort. The two had slipped into a light and mildly flirtatious conversation sprinkled with a little more teasing back and forth. Tina had needed to keep herself in check to stop from glaring or rolling her eyes over one intern always finding reasons to interrupt their conversation needing help with something or other. Tina’s twinge of jealousy over how giggly and hair twirly the intern had been acting may have had a hand in shoving Tina to ask if Valerie wanted to go out on Friday.

 _”Yeah,”_ Valerie had replied, Tina wasn’t sure if it was her own wishful thinking tricking her into seeing the way Valerie’s eyes seemed to light up and her voice softened at the idea. _“That sounds gre-...ay coñaso,”_ Valerie had harshly muttered to herself as something returned to the forefront of her mind, before breaking the news her Friday had already been spoken for by the office party. Tina had been just about to suggest Saturday instead, when Valerie had followed up with suggesting Tina come to the party with a shrug.

Tina should have smiled and politely declined. She would have. She would have made some joke about being stuck with a bunch of lawyers not being her idea of a party, but....that **damn** intern. She was standing on the periphery, clearly eavesdropping while taking a little too long sticking double sided tape on a Santa cut out. Something about not attending the party, and leaving an open space for this flirty intern to slip in—all the stereotypes of what sort of shenanigans can go on at office holiday parties floating in Tina’s mind—made her _not_ showing up to the party a hard no.

After a brief back and forth of “jokingly” (self consciously) asking if Valerie was sure about this—aka subtly implying what she was too afraid to ask: “are you sure you want your whole office knowing about....whatever this is?”—and Valerie seemingly not catching on to the root of Tina’s concerns and just casually shrugging and saying it’d be fun, _“hey, good—okay, decent...well, not hazardous, at least—snacks, corny Christmas music, forced small talk? It’ll be a kickass time, you should join in”,_ Tina had laughed and accepted the invitation.

After the invitation came plans, thoughts, questions, doubts, all things Tina had unloaded onto Gavin.

 _”T, it’s a fuckin’ office party,”_ Gavin had sighed, rolling his eyes while Tina swiped through outfit ideas on her cellphone next to him in the breakroom.

 _”Hey, Morales has only seen me in this damn uniform, or sweats....”_ Tina had argued, internally groaning as she thought back to a night in September the fates thought it would be funny for the two women to randomly encounter each other on the street just as Tina was leaving the gym. _“I need to step up my game.”  
_

_“Right, and how much of this is you just spiraling out of control over some sexy intern?”_  
  


_“I said **cute** ,” Tina had countered, before freezing. “Oh god, what if Valerie thinks the intern’s sexy?”_

That flash of insecurity was what had led to Tina “stepping up her game” with a little black sleeveless dress that was practically fused to her body and flared out slightly at the waist as it came down just above her knees. It was a bit much, but Tina was determined.

Then came a Thursday night text message from Valerie. It had been a selfie in front of a full length mirror of herself wearing a green cardigan over her pajamas. It was like a Christmas tree had thrown up on the lawyer—large fuzzy multicolored cotton balls made to look like ornaments in rows, with equally as ostentatious silver and gold fringe made to look like tinsel garland in between the rows.

 _‘What do you think? ;)’_ Had been the accompanying text.

 _‘Haha! Did you lose a bet?’_ Tina asked.

 _’Just giving you a preview of what you’ve got to look forward to tomorrow night.’_ Tina had stared at the text for a long moment as she took in what Valerie was saying, and a feeling of dread came over her. ‘ _Shit. I did tell you the party’s got an ugly sweater theme, didn’t I?’_ Valerie had added, likely rightfully assuming the cause of Tina’s delayed reply.

 _’Of course!’_ Tina had managed to text out, grateful this wasn’t a phone or video call and her lie easily seen through. _‘I’m keeping mine a surprise, though, haha’_

 _’Tease ;). Can’t wait to see it’_ Valerie had replied.

Tina had been lucky to quickly find something to fit the theme at a nearby thrift store on her lunch break, mere hours before the party. A bright red horror with a giant Rudolf head taking up the entire front of it. Finding something that ghastly in a pinch and not needing to settle on something too big or too small in her urgency had made her view the rough old wool-like material as a small price to pay for such “good” fortune.

 **Not small enough** , she found herself lamenting now as she suffered through yet another scratching fit.

 _“I was supposed to look good!”_ Tina had groaned earlier that evening as Gavin stood next to her as she fished the bag she’d brought her dress and other ‘time to make myself a knock-out’ supplies from her trunk, having decided it would’ve been easier to get ready in the locker room at the precinct instead of going home. _“You know? Really....’wow’....”_

 _“Hang on, if you found out about this whole ugly sweater thing last night, why the hell are still going with.....all that?”_ Gavin had asked, waving his hand at the overnight sized bag Tina had slung on her shoulder to balance it along with the bag from the thrift shop.

 _“I asked the same damn question,”_ Robert had chimed in with a shake of his head as he passed them in the parking lot. _“Doubt you’ll get more than a glare,”_ he added with a chuckle. Gavin had tried to get some ‘keep her off the deep end’ sort of assistance from Tina’s own partner, to which he had been met with a loud snort. “ _I’ve been stuck with that in a patrol car for six hours, she’s all yours now.”_

Within two hours filled with more internal bemoaning her predicament—as well as cursing her flat iron as it singed her temple, cursing herself for having gotten the wrong size pantyhose and needing to hoist and roll the top up by her rib cage, cursing as she poked herself in the eye with her mascara wand...just generally enough cursing that would’ve made even Gavin gasp if he had been in the locker room with her—Tina was ready. 

_“Damn, I’ll give you this; that is a nice dress,”_ Gavin had commented with a whistle—hoping to get some sort of laugh out of Tina to get her to relax—when Tina had met him just outside the locker room so he could zip her up.

 _”Yeah, too bad it’s got this as an accessory,”_ Tina had huffed as she yanked the sweater on over the dress. _“Sexy, right?”_ Tina cynically asked as she scratched at her shoulder.   
_  
“How are you supposed to be sexy in an itchy sweater?”_ Gavin had snorted.

 _“I’ll let you know,”_ came Tina’s reply. _“Wish me luck.”_

Walking into the festivities had had Tina feeling like she was back at the first large family gathering at her grandparents’ place after she’d come out—both as a lesbian, and as eschewing from the expectation of corporate career life plans her cousins and other family members had embraced, by having joined the police academy—quite a few raised eyebrows and people likely muttering “what’s she doing here” amongst themselves. Valerie’s enthused smile as she met Tina and drew her deeper into the party did go a long way in settling the anxious churning in Tina’s gut, so at least she had that. 

_“I’m so glad you made it! You look great, by the way,_ ” Valerie had said as she led Tina—walking so close to her side their arms brushed together—to a large table loaded with bowls of punch and snack platters. _“I’m especially loving the coordination we’ve got going on here,”_ she added with a grin. _“Green and red? Looks like we’re a match set,”_ she added as she gestured between their two sweaters. Valerie’s words, and the way her voice seemed to become even more smooth and velvet as she said them, had Tina’s insides turning into mush.

 _”Guess we’re meant to be_ ,” Tina had replied in kind. She “coyly” ducked her head to hide her cringing at herself for such a cheesy sentiment. _“Purple punch? That’s original,”_ Tina had commented, desperately scrambling for a casual shift in conversation, as she watched Valerie serve some of the dark purple liquid into a plastic cup. 

_“It’s Chicha Morada, actually. My contribution to the food and beverage spread. Try it,”_ Valerie had encouraged with a smile as she handed the cup to Tina.

Tina had tried to keep her face neutral after she took her first sip. A disgusted face at Valerie’s own culinary delight would be a bad look right now.

 _”You hate it,”_ Valerie had stated ad she took in Tina’s tight expression.

 _”No, no! It’s....uh....interesting....”_ Tina had replied, taking another taste and licking her lips to try and “savor” the flavor. _“It’s...kind of nostalgic? Like...”_

 _”Children’s cold medicine?”_ Valerie suggested.

 _”Oh my god, yes! Exactly!”_ Tina laughed as the tingling sense memory on her tongue suddenly made sense. Memories of her mother spoon feeding her doses of Dimetapp whenever she was sick as a child flooded her mind.

 _”I’ve heard that before,”_ Valerie chuckled, implying she took no offense. _“Here, I’ll get you something a little less medicinal,”_ she offered as she plucked the purple drink out of Tina’s hand and set it aside.

” _Well, I **loved** the chichi,” _A voice had interjected as that **damn** intern popped up almost directly between Valerie and Tina, bright smile and coquettish hair twirling and all.

 _”It’s Chic **ha** , actually,” _Valerie had gently corrected as she was visibly doing her best not to snort _. “That’s great, Liz, I’m glad to hear you liked it.”_

 _”I wonder if it goes well with my gingerbread cookies,”_ she said in a leading tone as she held a platter up to Valerie _. “How about you let me know if they’re a match set?”_ She had all but purred _._ Tina was grateful she was standing behind the younger woman, and thus her rolling her eyes went unnoticed.   
  


_“Thanks, but I’ve actually never been a fan of gingerbread,”_ Valerie had politely—and pointedly—declined as she gently pushed the offered platter away. _“How about you, Chen?”_ Valerie added, almost dismissing Liz as she looked over her shoulder to address Tina.

 _”Oh no, same here. I’ve always been more of a peppermint girl myself_ ,” Tina commented, biting back the slight victorious smile at Valerie turning down what the pretty intern had to offer. 

_“I knew there was a reason we get along so well_ ,” Valerie blatantly flirted with a grin as she handed Tina a cup filled with red punch. _“Come on, let me show you around.”_ Tina wished she could say she was classy enough not to shoot Liz a “I win” smirk over her shoulder as she and Valerie wandered away, but she was never one to claim a high level of maturity. The fact she kept it at just a smirk and didn’t poke her tongue out at the intern was a mark of her grasp on decorum, at least.  
  


By most accounts, the party had been fine after that. Tina and Valerie alternated between finding themselves in a quiet corner and talking, and being pulled into small talk with Valerie’s colleagues. The private moments made Tina feel relaxed and at home, as if being with Valerie was her being exactly where she belonged. Unfortunately, those moments were continuously interrupted. Standing mutely with a friendly smile and nod as Valerie chatted with her coworkers only served to force Tina to disengage as she put all her mental energy to resist scratching at her sweater. It was only when one of Valerie’s colleagues was making a rambling joke about a law professor they’d had, that Tina felt the unmistakable sensation of her pantyhose starting to bunch and roll down her stomach that she found herself needing an escape to adjust (and privately give in to her need to scratch). She had excused herself to the ladies room, where unfortunately her sea of doubts decided to overwhelm her and had her spending the next twenty minutes hiding out in a stall.

The ding of Gavin sending her a text message brought Tina back to the present. She switched her phone back to their conversation.

’Hey if you need an escape, let me know. Make something up, meet me at Burn’s, you can get shitfaced and flirt with that waitress with the nose-ring, I’ll drive you home.’ He offered. Tina smiled. She knew Gavin wasn’t much for bars if left to his own devices, managing to only drag himself to them if a social event (or a romantically inept friend, in this case) called for it. This was Gavin being a sweet supportive friend in his own unique way, and Tina was grateful for it.

’I might take you up on that’ Tina replied. ‘Give me a few minutes.’ Tina figured if she was going to make an exit, she at least owed Valerie an excuse, and she needed a few moments to think up something not too obviously “I’m bailing on you”. Gavin sent back a thumb’s up emoji.

Tina took a deep breath to ready herself for whatever would come next, gave her hosiery one more adjustment, and stood up from the toilet. She opened the stall door and stepped out, only to stop short as she caught sight of Valerie casually standing against the row of sinks.

”...Hey,” Tina said, the awkward discomfort in her voice floating between them. “How long have you been waiting?”

”Ten minutes, maybe?” Valerie replied with a shrug.

”That’s....great,” Tina commented in an ironic tone as she rolled her eyes to herself. She moved to a spot a few sinks away from Valerie and went about washing her hands, more so to have something to do than anything else.

“You seemed like you weren’t having a great time,” Valerie commented, which only served to make Tina want to kick herself for possibly being a wet blanket, “I just wanted to make sure you were okay....but also didn’t want you to feel like I was crowding you, so I didn’t say anything...” Valerie paused and shook her head to herself. “This whole silently stalking you thing seemed like a better idea in my head,” she added with a wry chuckle. Tina couldn’t help chuckle as well, the thought Valerie might be feeling just as uncertain and nervous as she was did help in loosening the tension in her chest. 

“I don’t know, I might not mind you stalking me,” Tina joked.

”That’s a relief,” Valerie replied with an exaggerated ‘phew’ gesture. She grabbed a couple of paper towels as Tina shut off the sink and used it as an excuse to move closer to her. “I’m sorry about tonight,” Valerie sincerely commented as Tina gave her a quiet thanks and dried her hands. “I was just....” Valerie continued before Tina had a chance to ask why or even deflect the apology. “I just really wanted to spend time with you.” Tina caught Valerie duck her head, embarrassed by her own honesty.

“How dare you,” Tina joked, getting a laugh out of Valerie. 

“I had to be here tonight...just another step of paying my dues, kissing ass, all that shit....but....I don’t know, something about you asking me out, face to face, it felt huge. I couldn’t pass it up. Sure, rescheduling for tomorrow or something would’ve made more sense but....” Valerie let her voice trail off, likely unsure as to why she hadn’t gone for that reasonable option. She shrugged. “Maybe I was liking the idea of actually having a reason to be excited to be at this party?” Tina felt her cheeks grow warm at Valerie’s words. There was something rather captivating about how earnest Valerie was being, and their having a moment truly alone together and it being used with open and honest communication. 

“I had no idea you were feeling that way,” Tina admitted. “You came off kind of....cool, I guess?....earlier this week.”

”Oh well being actually upfront and genuine would’ve been too healthy and mature! No no, I had to be playing it cool to not show off how much I like you....perfect sense, right?” 

“Oh yeah, that’s some big brain law school smarts right there,” Tina teased. She sighed and shrugged slightly. “I should tell you, I was going to suggest tomorrow night too, but-“ she cut herself off, her own honesty now catching in her throat.

”But what?” Valerie asked, her tone encouraging and giving the impression Tina didn’t need to fear being mocked or judged for whatever she said next.

”I may have been feeling a little.....jealous....about miss blondie intern out there.”

”You were jealous? Of Liz?” Valerie asked with a snort. “Seriously?!” She cut off the impending urge to laugh at such a thought when she saw Tina’s distress over seemingly being ridiculed over her feelings. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she quickly back-peddled. “I’m just....flabbergasted,” she went on to explained.

”You make it sound like she’s some three head creature from a toxic waste dump. She’s cute...and flirty....why wouldn’t I feel certain jealous-like feelings?”

”She’s a kid,” Valerie dismissed with a roll of her eyes.

”I doubt that ‘kid’ is even ten years younger than you,” Tina dryly replied.

”Those are pretty big years. Besides, the girl has massive ‘newly come into her own with her sexuality, fixating on an older openly non-straight woman’ vibes. It’s...I don’t know, looking up to someone she thinks has it all figured out. And, even if it was more than a minor crush at best,” Valerie shrugged and gave Tina a half smile, “she’s got nothing in you.”

”Even if I didn’t like your ‘chichi’?” Tina teased, which brought on a loud snort from Valerie as she broke into a fit of laughter.

”Oh my god, that would sound so wrong if taken out of context,” she gasped out in between peels of laughter. Tina groaned and covered her reddening face with her hands as she caught onto how euphemistic their conversation had suddenly become.

”I’m not saying anything else. I’m in enough of a hole as it is,” Tina grumbled. She groaned as she felt her blush extend past her face and down the rest of her body. Warm skin was **not** helping the itchy sweater. “Damn it, this fucking thing!” She snapped. She was done. She was officially giving up putting up with the sweater. She huffed and all put tore it off of herself and tossed it onto the side of the sink in front of her.

”Wow,” Valerie commented, quickly sobering from her laughter as she saw the dress in full.

”Ugh,” Tina groaned again and rolled her eyes. “I know, it’s over the top.” She looked away from Valerie and busied herself with checking the mirror to make sure the sweater hadn’t made her break out into horrific hives. Aside from some red splotches that were already fading from where her scratching had been the most intense, Tina was relieved to see she was in the clear.

”No, no! I like it, seriously!” Valerie assured her. 

“Gavin tried to tell me this was going kind of overboard. It’s going to be a fun ‘I told you so’ session,” Tina sardonically joked. She sighed and looked over at Valerie, deciding it couldn’t hurt to continue being honest. “This felt huge to me too,” she admitted, “I got it in my head that since I’ve only been in uniform...or gym sweats...around you....I had to put in some effort, or something....”

”Okay, first of all, I’m flattered,” Valerie commented, a smile forming on her lips at the thought of Tina wanting to go all out for her like that. “Second of all, Chen-“ She stopped, reached over and gently took Tina’s hand in her’s. “ _Tina,”_ she amended, the touch and the use of her first name grabbing Tina’s attention and making her insides feel warm and fuzzy, “you could be in your uniform, sweats, an ugly sweater, or a **very** not-ugly dress,” she emphasized her point by giving Tina a look up and down, “and I still wouldn’t be able to take my eyes off of you.” Tina’s face was straight up vermillion at the gentle and blatant praise.

”Wow, that’s some big talk,” Tina awkwardly commented with a small almost self deprecating chuckle.

”It’s true,” Valerie replied, giving Tina’s hand a squeeze to convey she meant every word.

Their eyes met, a quiet reassurance passing through their mutual gaze. Each affirming their strides of honesty to the other, as well as conveying they believed what the other had said. Tina curled her fingers around Valerie’s hand, squeezing it in return before running small circles over the back of it with her thumb.

”Wow, who would’ve thought we’d be getting this deep on a first date,” Tina commented.   
  


“Eh, with how long we’d been putting it off, I think keeping things too shallow would’ve been....I guess, insufficient?” She paused a moment, “unless you’re thinking this is moving too fast?”

”No, not fast at all,” Tina quickly assured her. “With all that time spent not moving at all, I’m kind of liking the speed.” Another moment of soft gazing and holding hands passed though them. A silent asking and answering of what they each wanted next. Valerie took a step closer to Tina, her free hand touching her arm to close the space between them. The message was clear, two sets of eyes breaking contact with each other as they each glanced at the others’ lips in anticipation....

Only for the sound of the door to the ladies’ room opening to interrupt them.

Tina and Valerie inconspicuously parted as one of the law clerks entered, all three exchanging passive smiles and pleasantries before the newcomer disappeared into a stall.

”Hey, do you want to get out of here?” Valerie quietly asked Tina. “I think I’ve done the requisite amount of brown-nosing for the night, and there’s this cozy little Italian place down the street. It’s nothing five-star or anything, but it’s not bad.”

”Cozy and not bad sounds perfect,” Tina replied.

The whole palaver of getting their coats and saying their goodbyes to Valerie’s colleagues had been an inconsequential blur to Tina. She had the presence of mind to send Gavin a quick ‘no need for Burn’s, all good, talk later’ text, but beyond that all she could think about was the euphoric high of her earlier uncertainties and worries being done away with. She was floating on cloud nine, barely noticing the chilly Detroit near-winter air nipping at her cheeks once were outside.

Valerie had been right about the Italian restaurant being cozy. It was small, a few tables, soft romantic lighting peppered with strings of twinkling lights along the walls and other winter decor. Intimate. Perfect.

”Hostess says it’ll be about five minutes,” Valerie had stated after she’d gone to see about a table and returned to Tina by the door. Tina simply nodded before a certain piece of decoration right above where Valerie now stood caught her eye.

”Hey,” she softly spoke to catch her date’s attention, before taking hold of Valerie’s hand and leaning closer to her as they met for a gentle yet lingering kiss. “Sorry, I couldn’t pass it up,” she murmured in mock contrition as she directed Valerie’s gaze to the sprig of mistletoe hanging overhead. 

“Works for me,” Valerie commented with a grin. “In more ways than one,” she added, making it clear she enjoyed the kiss and hoped for many more in the future. 

“Worth the wait?” Tina asked.

”Absolutely,” Valerie replied before going in for another kiss.


End file.
